A new Quinnipiac poll of the 2020 Democrats vying for the party’s nomination shows former Vice President Joe Biden with a significant lead over the field.
Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed in the poll released Monday, said they’d vote for Biden if the primaries were held that day. That number is over three times higher than any of his competition. Similarly, Biden, who announced his campaign Thursday, dominated the media mentions over the last week.
In a somewhat surprising twist, the poll showed Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren coming in second with 12%. She’s up eight percentage points from Quinnipiac’s March poll, the highest increase for every candidate but Biden.
She beat out independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by one percentage point in this poll, which showed him down 8 points. He took a hit this month after declaring his belief that every criminal, regardless of crime, should retain their right to vote throughout the length of their sentence.
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg saw a six-point increase from last month to this one as he’s up to 10%. His rise has seemingly coincided with the decline of Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who dropped 7 points and is only polling at 5%, according to Quinnipiac.
California Sen. Kamala Harris, who polled at 8%, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who polled at 2%, saw no change between February and March. No other presidential candidate garnered more than 2% of the survey.
The poll, which was conducted between April 26-29, surveyed a total of 1,044 voters throughout the country with a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.